The Greek Church on the Pacific [pp. A469-482]

THE GREEK CHURCH ON THE PACIFIC.
alashka, and a chapel was built at
Oumnak.
In I86I there were in the -Russian American colonies seven churches and thirtyfive chapels, several of them, including
the cathedral, having been built at the
cost of the Russian American Company,
which also kept them in repair. The
cost of maintenance was'defrayed by
voluntary contributions, and by the profits realized from the sale of candles. At
about this time the total capital of the
churches amounted to more than 2 5 5,00ooo
rubles, and was kept by the treasurer of
the Company, interest at five per cent
being allowed upon it. The contributions to the Church were made partly in
money and partly in furs, the Company
allowing the Church from seven to fourteen rubles for the skin of a sea-otter.
The Company expended on behalf of the
Church nearly 40,000 rubles per annum,
and built a residence for the Bishop at a
cost of 30,oo000 rubles.
At the time of the transfer of Russian
America to the United States, the Greek
Church maintained a considerable establishment, consisting of a Bishop, three
priests, two deacons, and numerous aco
lytes, at Sitka. Then the Bishop made
Oonalashka his headquarters, and now
San Francisco is his seat, from which
place as a center he administers the
whole of his vast diocese, apportioning
the funds at his disposal according to the
needs of the various parishes.
There are among'the Aleutians two
parishes and one independent church organization. The parish of Belkovsky in
the east embraces the Shumagin islands
and the' settlements at the south end of
the Alaska peninsula; the Oonalashka
parish in the west comprises all the
islands from Avatanok to Attoo. The
parish churches are at Belkovsky and
Oonalashka or Iliuliuk village, but there
is a small chapel at nearly every settlement, where unpaid subordinate members
of the clergy read the prayers. On the
Pribylof or Seal islands there is an independent organization, where the natives
maintain a priest and an assistant at
their own expense, and have erected,
with some aid from the lessees of the
islands, a fine church.
When a community is too poor to maintain a priest or reader, the Bishop, with
money supplied to him from Russia,
From Photo by Lieutenant Broadbent, U. S. R. M.
A GROUP 01 ALEUT CHILDREN.
478